Navigating Change: Building Resilience

Please refer to our Before You Teach guides for resources to support your practice.

Mental Health 101

 Safer Language

 Classroom Discussion Guide

 Trauma Informed Teaching

Building on the previous lesson, students deepen their understanding of resilience by exploring how protective factors help people adapt to change and navigate challenges. Through realistic scenarios, discussion, and reflection, students apply their learning to identify supportive relationships, personal strengths, healthy coping strategies, and community resources that help build resilience over time.

In this lesson, your students will…

• Understand that resilience develops over time through experience, support, and healthy coping strategies.
• Identify personal strengths, supportive relationships, and healthy coping strategies that help build resilience.
• Apply resilience-building strategies to real-life scenarios.
• Learn from the experiences and perspectives of others.
• Reflect on how they can continue building their own resilience when facing future changes.

Slide deck

Navigating Change: Building Resilience

Handouts

Resilience in Action: Scenarios

Additional Resources

• Chart paper, markers, sticky notes (optional)
• Teacher computer, projector

• Part 1: Minds On (5-10 minutes)
• Part 2: Action Tasks (40-55 minutes)
• Part 3: Consolidation (5-7 minutes)

Grade-Level Differentiation Note: 

This lesson is designed to be flexible across Grades 9–12. While the core lesson structure, reflection activities, and assessment remain consistent, facilitation and discussion depth may be adapted based on student age, developmental readiness, and course context. 

For Grades 9–10, educators may choose to focus more on emotional awareness, identifying coping strategies, and recognizing strengths during change. 

For Grades 11–12, educators may encourage deeper reflection related to identity, resilience, personal growth, and the broader impacts of change. 

Students are encouraged to engage with reflection activities only to the extent that feels comfortable and appropriate for them.

Note: All parts of the lesson procedure can be found in the slide deck provided.

Slide 2: Land Acknowledgement 

In the slide deck, we have included Jack.org’s land acknowledgement. We encourage you to write your own, acknowledging the Nations, communities, territories and treaties upon which you live and work, and your calls to action for reconciliation / Self Pledge.

‍Here are some resources to support you:

Why Acknowledge?

Territory Acknowledgement - Native-Land.ca.  

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Part 1: Minds On (10-15 minutes)

Slide 5: Think-Pair-Share 

Prompt: Think back to yesterday's lesson. What is one idea, strategy, or insight that has stayed with you?

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Slide 6: Discussion

1. What does resilience mean to you?

Possible student responses: 

• Bouncing back after something difficult happens.
• Getting through challenges.
• Not giving up when things are hard.
• Learning from mistakes or setbacks.

Takeaway: Those are all important parts of resilience. Resilience isn't about never struggling—it's about adapting, learning, and finding ways to navigate challenges with the help of our strengths, supports, and coping strategies.

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2. Do you think resilience is something we're born with, or something we build? Why?

Possible student responses: 

• I think we build it because we learn from experiences.
• Both. Some people might naturally cope differently, but everyone can become more resilient.
• We build it by facing challenges.
• It grows when we practice healthy coping strategies.
• Supportive friends and family can help build resilience.
• You become more resilient after overcoming difficult situations.

Takeaway: Some people may have different experiences, personalities, or supports that make challenges feel easier at times. But research shows that resilience can be strengthened over time through supportive relationships, healthy coping strategies, and learning from life's experiences. 

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3. What helps resilience grow?

Possible student responses: 

• friends, family, trusted adults (teachers, Elders, coaches, counsellors, etc.), community
• exercising, journaling, taking breaks, getting enough sleep, spending time outdoors, listening to music, mindfulness or deep breathing
• perseverance, courage, flexibility, optimism, problem-solving, self-awareness
• learning from mistakes, trying again after setbacks, solving problems, taking small steps outside your comfort zone, reflecting on what you've learned

Takeaway: Notice that many of the things you mentioned are skills, habits, relationships, and experiences, not personality traits. That means resilience isn't something people either have or don't have. It's something we can continue to build throughout our lives.

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Transition to the lesson:

Think of resilience like building muscle. It doesn't develop overnight. Every challenge we face, every healthy coping strategy we practice, every supportive relationship we lean on, and every lesson we learn can help strengthen our resilience over time. Today, we'll explore what that looks like in different situations and create a resource that can help ourselves and others navigate future challenges.

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Part 2: Action Tasks (40-55 minutes)

Resilience and Protective Factors (10-15 minutes)

Slide 7: Resilience 

1. Review the meaning of resilience. 

• Resilience is the ability to respond to challenges, adapt, and continue to adapt when things don’t go as planned.
• It isn't something people either have or don't have.
• Resilience develops over time through experience, supportive relationships, and healthy coping strategies.

2. Ask: Think about a skill you've learned, like riding a bike, cooking, or playing a sport. Did you become good at it the first time you tried? What helped you improve?
3. Explain: Resilience works in a similar way. We aren't born knowing exactly how to handle every challenge. We build resilience over time through our experiences, the support we receive, and the healthy coping strategies we practice.

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Slide 8: Protective Factors

1. Invite students to brainstorm examples of protective factors for each of the four categories. 

Protective Factor

Supportive relationships (Friends, family, teachers, Elders, coaches, trusted adults)

Personal strengths and skills (Problem-solving, optimism, perseverance, self-awareness, adaptability)

Healthy habits and coping strategies (Sleep, movement, mindfulness, journaling, creative activities, routines)

Community and environment (School clubs, cultural connections, community organizations, safe spaces)

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Activity: Resilience in Action (30-40 minutes)

This activity can be done individually or with a partner. Students receive a fictional scenario and answer the following questions:

1. What challenge or change is this person experiencing?
2. Which protective factors could help them build resilience? (Think about people, skills, coping strategies, routines, environments.)
3. Imagine this person six months from now. What might they have learned about themselves or this experience?
4. What message of encouragement would you share with them?

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Step 1: Scenarios (20-25 minutes)

1. Distribute one scenario card to each student or pair. 
   
   • Explain that they will use what they learned in the previous lesson about change and resilience to consider how someone might navigate a challenging situation.
2. Invite students to read the scenario and complete the accompanying questions independently or with a partner. 
   
   • Encourage them to focus on building resilience by identifying strengths, supports, healthy coping strategies, and practical next steps that could help the person over time.
3. Remind students that there are many possible responses and that people may navigate the same situation in different ways.

Option: Allow students to choose which scenario they would like to work on. 

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Step 2: Discussion (10-15 minutes)

Bring the class back together and invite students to share their ideas. 

1. Invite a few students or pairs to briefly summarize their scenario and one or two ideas they discussed.

Suggested questions:

• What challenge was your person facing?
• What protective factors did you identify?
• How might you support them? 

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2. Ask your students to think about the different scenarios they heard about and any connections they noticed.

Suggested questions:

• Which protective factors came up in more than one scenario?
• Were there different ways to build resilience in the same situation?
• Which protective factors seemed especially important? Why?
• What did you notice about the role of supportive relationships?
• What role did healthy coping strategies play?
• Did resilience mean "fixing" the problem? Why or why not?

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3. Without asking students to disclose personal experiences, invite them to make broader connections.

Suggested questions:

• Which protective factor do you think would be easiest for you to strengthen? Why?
• Which protective factor do you think people sometimes overlook?
• How can we help build protective factors for other people?
• How do protective factors help resilience develop over time?

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Teacher Note: As students share, reinforce that there is no single "right" way to respond to change or adversity.

• People draw on different protective factors depending on their experiences, identities, relationships, and circumstances. 
• Emphasize that resilience develops over time and is strengthened through supportive relationships, healthy coping strategies, opportunities to learn from challenges, and environments where people feel safe, connected, and valued.

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Part 3: Consolidation (5-7 minutes)

Slide 13 : Reflection

Ask each student to complete one of the following sentences:

1. How has your understanding of resilience changed?
2. What is one way you can continue building your resilience?

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Options:

• Provide students with sticky notes for their responses. When they are finished, invite them to post their notes on the wall if they feel comfortable sharing them. These become a small display beside the larger guide.
• Students submit their responses to you as an exit ticket.
• Students keep their responses in their notebooks as a reminder to themselves

Check out the other lessons in the Navigating Change series:

Lesson 1: Reflecting on Change, Stress, and Well-being

Lesson 3: Creating Our Resilience Toolkit

Lesson 4: Book a Jack Talk → Jack Talks 

Our Jack Talk on Navigating Change is delivered by a trained youth speaker who shares their own story and experiences with change. Students explore the many transitions we face in life, including academic transitions and identity development, and how these can affect our mental, emotional, and physical well-being. They’ll also practice self-awareness, explore uncertainty and thinking traps, and build skills to navigate change with greater intention, grow through change, and build resilience.

‍Lesson 5: Looking Ahead

Alberta

Physical education and wellness 7-9

Curriculum Overview

• Practise positive social behaviours in a variety of contexts. 
• Discuss strategies to manage risk to personal health and safety. 
• Relate protective strategies to mental well-being 
• Reflect on unsafe situations that adolescents face online, at home, at school and in the community. 
• Examine supports for mental health challenges. 
• Reflect on personal strengths as they relate to leadership and followership. 
• Examine personal and social factors that influence decisions, actions and behaviours. 
• Explore mental health literacy. 

Career education and financial literacy 7-9

Curriculum Overview

• Create open-ended plans to support transitions. 
• Assess personal strengths and opportunities for growth. 
• Develop strategies that can help manage transitions. 

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British Columbia

Physical and Health Education 10

Curricular Competencies

• Evaluate and explain strategies for promoting mental well-being 
• Create and evaluate strategies for managing physical, emotional, and social changes during puberty and adolescence 
• Explore and describe factors that shape personal identities, including social and cultural factors 

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Québec

Éducation physique et à la santé

Progression des apprentissages au secondaire : Compétence 3 – Adopter un mode de vie sain et actif

• Nommer des situations de stress qui ont des impacts dans sa vie de tous les jours (ex. : gagner une compétition, avoir un examen) 
• Nommer des réactions physiologiques associées à une situation de stress (ex. : augmentation de la fréquence cardiaque, sudation) 
• Nommer des répercussions d’une mauvaise gestion du stress sur sa santé et son bien-être (ex. : anxiété, fatigue, perturbation du sommeil, dépression) 
• Indiquer des stratégies pour se relaxer (ex. : prendre un bain chaud, lire, faire de l’activité physique, utiliser une technique de relaxation) 
• Utiliser des techniques pour se relaxer après un effort physique ou pour gérer son stress (ex. : respiration contrôlée, méthode de Jacobson, yoga, imagerie mentale) ‘

EKIP : santé, bien-être et réussite éducative des jeunes

• 1.1 Reconnaître des stratégies d’adaptation à des situations stressantes ou difficiles 
  • Exploration des différentes réactions possibles face à des situations stressantes ou difficiles (ex. : situations liées à de nouvelles exigences socioscolaires, à un nouvel environnement, à l’intimidation ou à la discrimination) 
  • Adoption de stratégies face à des situations sur lesquelles on peut avoir du contrôle ou que l’on peut changer (ex. : méthodes de travail, gestion du temps, démarche de résolution de conflits, demande d’aide) 
  • Adoption de stratégies face à des situations que l’on ne peut changer, comme la perte d’un être cher ou une séparation (ex. : exprimer ses émotions, avoir une attitude positive, demander de l’aide) 
• 1.2 Connaître des stratégies à privilégier lors d’une situation qui nécessite de l’aide pour soi ou les autres 
  • Reconnaissance des signes de détresse, des attitudes et des comportements qui nécessitent de l’aide 
  • Connaissance des services de soutien dans son école et sa communauté
• 2.1 Expliquer l’influence de ses habitudes de vie sur sa santé et son bien-être 
• 2.2 Évaluer et adapter ses stratégies pour améliorer ou maintenir sa santé et son bien-être 
• 3.1 Comprendre différentes composantes de la santé mentale 
  • Interrelations entre santé mentale et a) santé physique; b) relations positives et égalitaires; c) capacité d’adaptation au stress et aux transitions 
  • Facteurs de risque individuels et environnementaux (ex. : situations stressantes et difficiles, exclusion sociale, pensées négatives) 
  • Facteurs de protection (ex. : stratégies d’adaptation, estime de soi, scolarisation, soutien de la famille et des amis, saines habitudes de vie, recours aux services disponibles) 
  • Troubles mentaux (ex. : troubles anxieux, dépression) et répercussions possibles sur les individus, sur les familles et sur la société 
• 3.3 Connaître des stratégies d’adaptation qui permettent d’être plus objectif par rapport à des situations stressantes ou difficiles et à ses émotions 
  • Dédramatisation de la situation 
  • Réévaluation positive de la situation, vision d’un avenir meilleur 
  • Obtention d’un autre point de vue fiable 
• 3.4 Reconnaître les situations qui requièrent de l’aide et les facteurs qui influencent la demande d’aide pour soi ou les autres 
  • Reconnaissance des signes de détresse psychologique (ex. : distinction entre un état passager de tristesse et un mal-être persistant qui nécessite de l’aide, signes de détresse comme le repli et l’isolement, idéations suicidaires) 
  • Connaissance des mythes entourant les troubles mentaux 
  • Développement d’une conception positive de la demande d’aide (ce n’est pas un signe de faiblesse) 
  • Recherche de soutien émotionnel dans l’entourage (accueil, écoute, accompagnement vers des ressources)  
  • Connaissance des types d’aide et des façons d’y accéder 
  • Connaissance des ressources disponibles dans l’école et dans la communauté 

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Nova Scotia 

Healthy Living 9 

Specific Curriculum Outcomes 

• Healthy Self 
  • 9.1 analyze their health needs in times of change and apply strategies that enhance their capacity to manage change in their lives
• Healthy Community 
  • 9.17 examine how people support healthy communities locally and globally, and take age-appropriate action to support a community health issue of interest to them 
  • 9.20 identify school and community-based resources and health services available to assist themselves or a friend if help or information in the area of sexual health, mental health, alcohol and other substance use or gambling is needed, and practise how to make initial contact such a service/resources 

Life 11

Indicators

• Investigate the types of transitions and changes that occur in life and careers (COM, PCD)
• Compare ways to support mental health in times of change (COM, CT, PCD
• Investigate supports and resources available for changing life circumstances (CT, PCD)
• Analyse how protective factors work in response to changing life circumstances (COM, CT, TF)
  

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New Brunswick

‍Personal Wellness 9

Big Idea: Positive Mental Fitness Strategies

Achievement Indicators:

Identify strategies to build own positive mental health.

Big Idea: Helpful and Harmful Choices

Achievement Indicators:

Analyze how food, screen time, and substances may affect an individual’s health (e.g., mental, social, emotional, and physical including brain development)

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Wellness Through Physical Education (110)

General Curriculum Outcome:

1.0 Students demonstrate an understanding of the concept of wellness.

Specific Curriculum Outcome:

1.2 Students evaluate and address personal wellness needs.

1.3 Students analyze how society, media and culture influence wellness

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Ontario

Healthy Active Living Education, Grade 10 (PPL 2O)

Specific Expectations

C1 Understanding Health Concepts

1.1 Demonstrate an understanding of factors that enhance mental health and emotional and spiritual well-being

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Healthy Active Living Education, Grade 12 (PPL4O)

Specific Expectations

C2 Making Healthy Choices

2.3 Describe how coping and interpersonal skills and their knowledge of personal protective and risk factors can be used to develop resilience and enhance their ability to make healthy choices, including the avoidance of substance use and addictive behaviours

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Recreation and Healthy Active Living Leadership (PLF4M)

Specific Expectations

C2 Healthy Active Living Plan

2.1 Describe how healthier choices related to physical activity, healthy eating, and other aspects of everyday living (e.g., limiting screen time and increasing participation in a variety of physical activities that provide cardiovascular and muscular endurance, muscular strength, or flexibility benefits; eating balanced meals; choosing nutritious snacks; managing stress; getting enough sleep; making choices with personal safety in mind) contribute to better physical, mental, and social health and greater personal well-being 

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Prince Edward Island

Physical and Health Education 9 (9PHEA)

‍Specific Curriculum Outcomes

Learners are expected to create a personalized mental health plan

‍Achievement Indicators

Develop and implement a personalized mental health plan that incorporates evidence-based strategies, self-awareness, and healthy decision-making skills

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Wellness (PED401A)

Outcomes and Indicators

W1. Evaluate one’s self in each dimension of wellness.

‍l. Examine the relationships among defense mechanisms, feelings, behaviours, and mental health (i.e., ways we protect ourselves from things we do not want to think about or deal with).

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Saskatchewan

Wellness 10

Outcomes and Indicators

W4. l. Examine the relationships among defense mechanisms, feelings, behaviours, and mental health (i.e., ways we protect ourselves from things we do not want to think about or deal with).

W5.g. Examine emotional and behavioural patterns of self and others and determine related impact on optimal wellness.

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Yukon

*Yukon schools follow the British Columbia (B.C.) curriculum, with adaptations to include Yukon content and Yukon First Nations’ ways of knowing and doing. (https://yukon.ca/en/school-curriculum)

Physical and Health Education 10

Curricular Competencies

• Evaluate and explain strategies for promoting mental well-being 
• Create and evaluate strategies for managing physical, emotional, and social changes during puberty and adolescence 
• Explore and describe factors that shape personal identities, including social and cultural factors